Congratulations! You made it! You survived and excelled in your student teaching. You are now a science teacher! If you would, take a few minutes to share your wisdom about how to negotiate this difficult year with the students who are following in your footsteps by answering the following questions.
a. What are some things students can do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
Create a pattern for yourself in terms of being organized and always completing assignments (that are for the students) ahead of time. Also, establish a good line of communication immediately with your cooperating teacher.
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
Create a unit that you know for a fact you will be able to teach during your student teaching. Confirm all of the material in your unit way ahead of time with your cooperating teacher.
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have done a better job during student teaching if I had ...."
established firm classroom rules during my first week of student teaching (in the high school).
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?
Definitely create and maintain a certain pattern in your teaching so that you and the students have a familiar way to go about learning each new concept. For example, start with the background knowledge (some notes), show video streams or models for reinforcement, then move on to students being actively engaged in learning (activities, group work etc). Finally, have review sessions and "Q & A" before any assessments. Also, always try to be creative in your ways of delivering information. Students really like to be physically involved (even if it's something like using colored pencils to draw illustrations for concepts being learned). Enjoy and have fun with it, it'll be a really special time in your life!
a. What are some things students can do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
Create a pattern for yourself in terms of being organized and always completing assignments (that are for the students) ahead of time. Also, establish a good line of communication immediately with your cooperating teacher.
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
Create a unit that you know for a fact you will be able to teach during your student teaching. Confirm all of the material in your unit way ahead of time with your cooperating teacher.
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have done a better job during student teaching if I had ...."
established firm classroom rules during my first week of student teaching (in the high school).
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?
Definitely create and maintain a certain pattern in your teaching so that you and the students have a familiar way to go about learning each new concept. For example, start with the background knowledge (some notes), show video streams or models for reinforcement, then move on to students being actively engaged in learning (activities, group work etc). Finally, have review sessions and "Q & A" before any assessments. Also, always try to be creative in your ways of delivering information. Students really like to be physically involved (even if it's something like using colored pencils to draw illustrations for concepts being learned). Enjoy and have fun with it, it'll be a really special time in your life!